Cancer-stricken tennis champ Corina Morariu, Lindsay Davenport’s doubles partner, is fighting for her life after a massive dose of chemotherapy nearly killed her.
Just days after learning she has a rare and severe form of leukemia, Morariu battled back from the brink of death after an adverse reaction to the aggressive treatment.
“We almost lost her,” said her father, Dr. Albin Morariu, a prominent Florida neurologist.
Morariu, the No. 1-ranked doubles player early last year, learned only Thursday that she is suffering from acute promyelocytic leukemia.
Her oncologists decided to attack the disease aggressively, but the potent medication ravaged the 23-year-old’s slight, 130-pound body.
On Sunday, she had to be revived from respiratory failure – with her mother, father and brother, all doctors, by her side.
Morariu is still in critical condition at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, where she continues to take oral and intravenous chemotherapy.
“It’s too soon to tell if she’s making progress,” her father said.
“She has a fighting spirit. The rest is up to God.”
Doctors believe Morariu, ranked 85th in singles and 27th in doubles, has been sick for more than two months, even while she was playing a grueling WTA tour schedule.
“The doctors say it’s amazing, just unbelievable, she was able to play at all,” says Morariu’s agent, David Egdes. “Given the condition of her blood, they said she was probably playing to 50 percent of her capabilities.”
Known for a picture-perfect, one-handed backhand and sunny disposition, Morariu returned from Europe after dropping out of the German Open on May 8 with a foot injury.
She planned to recuperate at her Boca Raton home with her husband and coach, Andrew Turcinovich, 33, before flying to Paris this weekend for the French Open.
But when she complained of nosebleeds and fatigue, her doctor-father ordered her to see a specialist.
“I suspected something was wrong,” her father said. “I never suspected this.”
The next three weeks of constant chemotherapy will be critical to determining her prognosis. Doctors say the disease could go into complete remission.
Her father said the family is focused on beating the disease and he refuses to speculate on his daughter’s tennis future.
“Her life is at stake,” he said. “Tennis, as well as everything else, is secondary.”
Morariu won the mixed-doubles title at the Australian Open in January, playing with South African Ellis Ferreira. She won the 1999 Wimbledon women’s-doubles title with Davenport.